Social conservative joins leadership race
POLITICS: MP is ‘defender of traditional marriage’
OTTAWA — Social conservative MP Brad Trost officially jumped into the federal Conservative leadership race.
The longtime backbench MP is selling himself as “100-per-cent conservative” and someone willing to stand up and defend the right flank of the party, especially when it comes to divisive social issues. Trost, 42, is an outspoken anti-abortionist and self-declared “uncompromising defender of traditional marriage.”
He will use his leadership campaign to appeal to social conservatives and other members who might feel like the Conservative party and certain leadership candidates have been abandoning some of their core principles for political expediency.
Trost, member of Parliament for Saskatoon-University, is the sixth declared candidate in the leadership race, joining MPs Maxime Bernier, Kellie Leitch, Michael Chong, Tony Clement and Deepak Obhrai.
Fellow Conservative MPs Andrew Scheer and Erin O’Toole are considering bids. Former Conservative MP Peter MacKay is also weighing whether to enter the race.
Trost is in Mongolia on vacation and couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday.
“He didn’t see another candidate that was going to be a principled conservative, which is what he believes in — that you should have core principles, as opposed to being a weather vane conservative, changing with whatever the prevailing winds are,” said Mike Patton from Trost’s campaign.
Trost holds degrees in geophysics and economics, and was an exploration geophysicist before first being elected Conservative MP in 2004. He is married and has a baby daughter.
The soft-spoken yet candid MP is arguably best known for his hardline positions and sometimes controversial comments. He criticized fellow backbenchers during the Harper government years for always toeing the party line and following orders from the Prime Minister’s Office, rather than speaking their conscience and standing up for constituents.